| 1 | Petra Müller | GDR | 54,40 | Q |
| 2 | Lillie King-Leatherwood | USA | 54,69 | Q |
| 3 | Charmaine Crooks | CAN | 55,00 | q |
| 4 | Kehinde Vaughan | NGR | 56,72 | |
| 5 | Esther Kavaya | KEN | 58,23 |
| 1 | Rossitza Stamenova | BUL | 53,47 | Q | |
| 2 | Esmie Lawrence | CAN | 53,74 | Q | |
| 3 | Airat Bakare | NGR | 53,83 | NR | |
| 4 | Josephine Mary Singarayar | MAS | 56,05 | AR | |
| Ana Maria Luzio | BOL | DNS |
| 1 | Judit Forgacs | HUN | 53,80 | Q | |
| 2 | Marzena Wojdecka | POL | 54,13 | Q | |
| 3 | Marina Stepanova | URS | 54,78 | q | |
| 4 | Janice Kelly | SKN | 55,20 | NR | |
| Nawal El Moutawakil | MAR | DNS |
| 1 | Sabine Busch | GDR | 53,50 | Q | |
| 2 | Olga Nasarova | URS | 53,68 | Q | |
| 3 | Christina Perez | ESP | 53,84 | q | |
| 4 | Norfalia Carabali | COL | 55,36 | NR | |
| 5 | Adriana Martinez | ECU | 59,02 | NR | |
| 6 | Rowan Maynard | ANT | 59,75 |